California Part III

Naomi meets the penguin. We don't have any at our Zoo so she was pretty interested to see this new animal so close. The little guy in the picture put on quite a show for us, flipping and jumping, we think he was hungry.
Naomi kissed the elephant statue...how sweet! Of course she also banged her face on the trunk.
The animals were enjoying the California weather as much a we were.
This was our last look at the city. A pretty good picture (yeay Michael).

California Part II

We also visited the Aquarium on the pier. Naomi really enjoyed the touching part of the exhibit.
This is at Fort Point (it was closed, but we went last year...ehh). This Fort once protected the entrance to the bay. It was towards the end of the day and was pretty cold since the fog was coming in. I was glad to get back into the car.
Here's Naomi at the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield. Yes she is screaming! I'm not sure if she was mad because I set her down or because she had to sit next to the large Jelly Bean, but she cheered up after we visited the sampling bar.
We also had a chance to visit the exploritorium. A lot of the exhibits were too old for Naomi, but we all still had a great time. The table she's working at is covered in sand and is spinning...she made a mess!
Michael shrunk! The exhibit was explaining how bigger things tend to be inefficient because although it would hold more people, it uses a lot more material (makes for an interesting picture though).

California Part I

So, we went to California for our annual trip to visit family, but also for a "Decades Birthday Bash" where we celebrated all the birthdays of people who would be entering a new decade. It started off with brunch at a little restaurant in Berkeley. You can see one of the tables of people in the picture above (clockwise from bottom left: Anne, Nate, Gary, Nifer, and Naomi's head).
Here is Naomi eating a tortilla she took from Papa's plate.
We got to spend two days in the city. Jennifer, Gary, Michael, and I took a tour to Alcatraz while Papa and Granny Anne watched Naomi on Pier 39.
Too bad they don't let you close the doors! Just kidding Nifer and Gary, we wouldn't leave you there.
Here we are near the lighthouse looking back towards San Francisco (it was rather windy!). The headphones you see are giving us an audio tour that was put together by former guards and inmates. It was really informative and interesting and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is going to be in San Francisco for a day or two.

Catch up

Ok, I have to play catch up for the past month. I have been so busy with work...tis the season (the wedding season!).

This first picture is my attempt at keeping Naomi's hair out of her face...it lasted for all of 3 minutes! I've tried a couple of times since then, but either she hasn't cooperated, or she has pulled it out soon after I've finished.

This is Naomi loving a puppy at the mall. I'm not sure why she wanted to hug him, but she does it everytime that we come to this ride. Luckily she doesn't really understand that the rides are supposed to move (yet) so I don't have to spend $0.75 each time we pass the rides.

These next pictures of just nice shots that Michael has taken from our backyard. New Mexico sunsets are lovely!
We also have some shots of lightening, but I haven't edited them yet.

Cloud formations.

Here's a picture of our famous New Mexico sunsets. This is actually taken from our backyard.

This is Naomi's garden. She planted it with her Yaya while she was up during her summer vacation. Naomi has taken excellent care of it, it has been over a month and all of the plant are still alive (and some of them still have flowers)!

Naomi is pretty attached to her bipi as you can see from the above picture.

Here she is "smelling" a flower. I'm not sure why she thinks that you smell with you mouth, but at least she is actually eating it!

We went camping! We'll if you can call one night camping. We ended up having to go home after the first night because I came down with the flu and was rather pathetic.

Here is our camp cook (a.k.a. Uncle Jake). He did a wonderful job with a camp stove and didn't manage to catch anything on fire! His menus featured Spagehtti with garlic toast; scrambled eggs with bacon, sausage, and tortillias; and chicken tacos with a side of corn.

Michael sort of...forgot Naomi's shoes, so we ended up fixing her up with an extra pair of her cousins (yes those are hair ties!).

Naomi proves that even in the wilderness she is still beautiful and cute! She's actually pretending to be asleep waiting for someone to shout "wake up Naomi" but it makes for a great picture!

Here's the whole crew (well, not me, I'm taking the picture). We have found a stream and Aztec is investigating. I think he's behind Malissia (Aztec's a dog by the way).

Naomi enjoyed her first Ice Cream cone today. She REALLY liked it!
She is getting so big that you probably wouldn't recognize her. She is also learning new words daily, the newest are Banana, Hannah (her cousin), Yaya (grandma), and All gone.
Other summer activities: Swimming, going to the park, and blowing bubbles. And to answer Auntie Nifer's post...she has 12 teeth!!!

Naomi makes her first cookie (with mom's help)

Naomi and I baked some cookies the other day. Well, I baked, she mostly ate.
Yummy...raw dough, don't worry, I made the dough with pasturiezed eggs! I saw this coming!
What a happy baby! She had to have a bath after this, she was covered in dough...the picture doesn't do her justice! This is her eating the one cookie she made (you can see it in the picture above, it's the bottom right). She didn't like the baked cookie as much as the dough, and it's the day after we made them, maybe she would like a warm cookie better? We'll have to try that next time.

Swim Lessons

Naomi had her first of 8 swim lessons today. She really enjoyed the water for most of the class, but got cold towards the end. She "swam" on her tummy and blew bubbles. Daddy was able to join us for this fist class since he was off work.

Update

It's been a while. We have been so busy with the house and our jobs that I just haven't had the chance to give any updates. Naomi got this swing from her Nana and Pa for her birthday. She was afraid of it at first, but now she really enjoys it. Naomi is doing really well. She walks everywhere and is even starting to run. She says: 'hi' 'bye' 'kitty' 'mama' 'daddy' 'more' 'night-night' 'baby' and 'bipi'. She can drink from a cup without spilling much (unless she wants to of course). She's also starting to use a fork or spoon to eat, just not always the correct end.
We hope everyone is doing well!

Zoo

You can't tell in this picture, but the post we are standing next to says "Adopt a wild child" I thought it was fitting even though that's not the actual meaning. We went to the Albuquerque Zoo today and spent about 4.5 hours there! We walked all over and saw so many animals. Naomi really enjoyed seeing all the animals. She followed their movements well and pointed after them. She was sure that the big cats were just like out little Demi at home and even called them "kitty".
We even rode the train around the zoo. Naomi enjoyed it at first, but was then put to sleep by the vibrations, it was actually nice because I'm not sure she would have taken a nap otherwise.
And I must say thank you to Jojo and Erica (children of coworkers)! It would have been a much more difficult and tiring day without their help...thanks girls!

Naomi's First Birthday!Naomi celebrated her first birthday! We had so many family and friends over and I think everyone had a pretty good time. Naomi has done so much over the last year (as all children do). She now walks expertly and really wants to run. She eats mostly by herself and has perfected drinking from a sippy cup. She is starting to talk and she certainly understands us. We are both amazed by the personality she is developing, she really shows her intelligence and sense of humor.
She is also so independent, she wants to do everything by herself, but gets frustrated when she can't do something. Luckily she learns quickly, so that those things that where once difficult and frustrating become a new mastered skill.

Map for Party

Michael and I figured out how to get a map to people and yet not display it to the world! Please e-mail me at TMMBBW@hotmail.com and make sure to let me know who you are because I don't know everyones e-mail address. Then I'll e-mail a map to you from the intersection of Unser and Northern (you can map that on any on-line mapping site). Hope that helps everyone! We are so excited to see everyone at Naomi's first birthday party!!!

Playground

Naomi has been playing at a plyaground in our local mall. It's a cute area made for younger children and she has a lot of fun watching the older kids run around, but she also joins in the fun.
She made a friend the last time we went. They played a little bit, but spent most of their time poking and pulling hair. Naomi has such a personality (that also includes a temper!). She is a little daredevil and gets into everything! She is also so curious and must explore anything new she comes across.

As some of you know, our shop was asked to make a White House cake for a fundraiser for Gov. Richardson's campaign for the presidency. I wanted to share some pictures of the finished product. I must confess that I had almost nothing to do with it, but I'm very proud of Birdie (my boss). Enjoy!

Walking

Naomi took her first independent steps on January 23rd! She took about 5 steps at work on that morning and repeated the performance for Daddy in the afternoon. She has taken several steps each day since. We are glad she's still a bit wobbly, because she's a handful as it is! Not that she tries to make trouble, but she is just so curious.
We spent last weekend in Las Cruces with family since there are many January birthdays. We had so much fun seeing everyone, and Naomi gladly showed off her new skill.
We are also planning Naomi's first birthday! It is exciting and daunting. I have gotten as far as getting invitations and beginning to think about her cake. Hopefully all will go smoothly.
Well, I'll have more pictures soon!

P.S. - Look for directions in later posts!

Busy, busy December

The month of December has been a busy one! Michael was in Vienna, Austria for two weeks for work and during that time Naomi and I stayed in Las Cruces with my parents. Naomi had her first ear infection, and her first cold, and also suffered from an Amoxicillin rash (nothing painful, but it did scare me!). Not to mention Naomi's first Christmas which in itself was quite the event!
Naomi also enjoyed her first cake. A coworker decorated a mini Christmas cake for her. She very gladly ate a good portion of it and disposed of the rest by smearing it everywhere. She had to be stripped down to her diaper so she wouldn't ruin her clothes!
We also visited Santa...twice. Once at NMSU when they had the annual luminaria walk and once at the mall with her cousin Jessica. Naomi did much better than I had expected and didn't cry! She will probably be terrified of Santa next year, but maybe not, we'll see.
Naomi enjoyed her first Chritmas, it was a little overwhelming, but she did a good job. She really is a lucky little girl to have so many people her love her, she recieved so many wonderful, thoughtful gifts.
She also stod up on her own for the first time. She does this on a fairly regular basis now, and I dread the day she takes off walking, she is so busy as it is!
Well, that's it for now. She is keeping both of us busy as are our jobs and our new house. We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Years!

Sucess!

So much has happened since I've been able to access this blogger! Halloween, I was a pirate and Naomi was Tigger. We went to the Zoo Boo on the 28th, and while Naomi didn't play any game she did have a great time watching all the kid and seeing the animals. She helped hand out candy on Halloween night and thought that it was a wonderful idea for so many fun kids to come by. Since she has learned to wave bye, she waved to each group of trick-or-treaters!

Here she is at 7 months riding on her car. She hasn't really figured out the whole going forward thing, but she has a lot of fun pushing it around and playing with the toys.
This is also at 7 months, she's trying to escape from the living room, which we have gated off to keep her out of the kitchen. She's plotting with her blue horse...lol.

Finally a picture of my birthday cake, it came out a little fuzzy, but you can get the general idea of it. It was a lot of fun to make because I could experiment with it and know that the person who ordered it wouldn't get mad if there was a mistake.

This is Naomi at 8 months. She's at work in her official 'Say it With Cake' outfit. She really enjoys coming to work and seeing all her friends.

Naomi also got sick for the first time. She has an ear infection right now and we also found out that she is slightly allergic to amoxicillan. Nothing serious, she just has a little rash, but hopefully she'll get over the little bug and be back to her happy little self.

Don't give up!

Ok, the site has been giving me some problems uploading pictures, not to mention the fact that I really haven't had all that much time! But I will get more pictures up soon. They have landscaped the front yard, so it looks much nicer now (not just a lot of dirt!), and I also have pictures of Naomi at 7 months and Halloween. I will continue to fight with the site! Keep checking back for new news!